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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27174481">Boys Don't Cry</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovesprayer/pseuds/lovesprayer'>lovesprayer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fluff, Just a drabble, M/M, Time Skips, a bit of both ig</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:01:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,589</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27174481</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovesprayer/pseuds/lovesprayer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When your life is, objectively, a horror show, sometimes all you can do is cry.</p><p>And sometimes when things finally go right for once, that's all you know how to do, too.</p><p>Drabble for an snstober prompt.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Boys Don't Cry</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>quarantine sucked me back into naruto &amp; I've been writing here &amp; there but felt too shy to post. anyway I wrote this in between leasing my new flat and didn't spend too much time polishing it up, so don't expect a masterpiece lol but hopefully it's still enjoyable. </p><p>this was inspired by an snstober prompt that I used as the title, set in canonverse. the first third or so is a biiiit depressing bc that's just how canon is. the rest is mostly sweet tho!! Promise!!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Naruto hates the walls of his apartment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re a sterile white. At one point he had bought a small, cheap palette of finger paint to draw on them, bring some color into the studio that was depressingly impersonal, but the next time some Shinobi of no relevant name paid him a visit to dump an allowance on his doorstep they had scolded him, hit him, took the paint. The worst part was the unabashedly disgusted eyes - on him, not the painted wall - as the man reprimanded him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You have no ownership of anything here,” he had stated, coldly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I live here! I just wanted it to be more colorful!” Naruto had defended himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man leaned over low, looking into Naruto’s eyes with such pointed aversion it made him wince. It was that look again, the one every adult in the village regarded him with - passively from a distance, passionately if he dared to come too close. He wasn’t desensitized to it yet; it would still take a few years. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are in no position to make any choices for yourself,” the shinobi hissed and he stopped when he looked over the boy. Straightening his back as a mean smile creeps over his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look at you,” he said, “crying like a little girl. Boys don’t cry. But maybe that’s not surprising with… something like you. You’re not even a real fucking person.” He gave him one last, disapproving look and then turned to leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know why the Third even bothers letting you live off him like a parasite,” he commented as he closed the door behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had made him paint over the entire apartment with fresh white paint after that. Of course, they didn’t bother repairing the actual cracks in the walls for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The tears welled up as he remembered it now. Naruto shakes his head wildly, trying hard to make the sting behind his eyes disappear and the no-name shinobi’s voice to go mute in his head. When all his attempts fail, he throws the door to his apartment shut behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He is kicking stones by the river, stubbornly ignoring the tears streaming down his face. The sun is already beginning to set when he bumps into someone’s back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy he ran into turns around, taking a big step away when he sees Naruto’s face. To his side one of his friends mouthes something that looks like ‘Ew’. “Watch where you’re going, weirdo!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s that Naruto kid, don’t even bother,” the third boy tries to placate him. He had dark hair pulled up in a high ponytail and sharper, though very bored looking features. Naruto recognized him as the Nara clan’s kid. He’s about to say something when that one regards him again and he raises one haughty brow, “wait, look at that, he’s crying. Aww.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The shame rushes to color Naruto’s cheeks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not crying!” He yaps, voice raspy. “Boys don’t cry, so why the fuck would I be crying! You guys just have shitty eyes!” He’s aware of how ridiculous he sounds, but anything was better than just staying quiet and taking it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boys in front of him look at each other and the Nara kid rolls its eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure, if you say so,” he sounds bored.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whatever, this is a drag. Let’s just go home, my mom’s making stew I think.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, don't ignore me, I'm still-” Naruto grabs one of their arms, desperate to not be forgotten and discarded immediately again, only for it to be yanked away, and it causes him to almost fall over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>fucking </span>
  </em>
  <span>touch me,” the kid spits the words out, wiping his arm on his clothes. Naruto feels his vision blur more again. He grits his teeth, clenches his fingers into fists. Why? Why did everyone treat him like he was dirty and would contaminate anyone who got close? What was so wrong with him, so wrong that people treated him like an infectious disease or just a straight up a ghost wherever he went? Who gave him that curse?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not crying!” He screams after them as they walk away, his skin hot and prickly from the salt trails. “I’m not fucking crying!”</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They eye him like a tiger in a zoo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke sits by the harbor, one leg angled up and clutched against his chest, as he mindlessly skips rocks. Every single one skips at least five times.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The day had been a pain in the ass. History class covered Kekkei Genkai clans, how many of them have moved to the brink of extinction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course they act like it was their own fault, Sasuke had thought bitterly, though, sadistic as it was, his second mind taunted him with the fact that his had been driven there by one of their own, too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His classmates hadn’t even been subtle about their looks. The girls with their coy but possessive glances, like he was a trophy cast in gold. The Hyuuga girl with something akin to empathy, and that probably angered him the most. As if the spoiled and sheltered heir to the most prestigious clan in the village, a clan protected from inside as much as outside of its own walls, and very much alive and thriving, could possibly understand. Then the boys with their irritated looks, as if his tragedy was somehow enviable for the attention and special treatment he got from it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That Uzumaki kid. Sasuke didn’t miss his furtive gaze, nor how oddly quiet and contemplative he was, like the heat of his temper had escaped him. The depth and astuteness in his eyes was strangely unsettling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their day went on with ninjutsu practice, but even though he was used to stares, the extra amount of eyes on him that day was frankly unnerving. He left quicker than usual when school ended, overhearing a group of classmates laugh about how good he had it, now no one could compete with the attention for his special jutsus since everyone else who knew them was dead. He turned around, getting only a mild satisfaction from their flinching at his hateful glare. He hated school.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Approaching footsteps rattle Sasuke from his thoughts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here,” a gentle voice says, crouching down by his side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kunoichi places something next to him, from his peripheral vision he identifies it as a bottle of water and a thicker letter case. He had inherited enough from the clan, but the 3rd Hokage still insisted on giving him a monthly allowance. Sasuke could think of a few things he’d have rather had to placate him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kurenai Yuuhi, a chunin teacher at the academy that was rumored to soon be promoted to a jounin took a seat next to him. From the corner of his eyes Sasuke sees her smiling at him warmly, though not missing the professional distance in it. His own mother often regarded Shinobi that visited their district like it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is everything alright?” She asks. Sasuke doesn’t answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sad?” The woman asks then. He wishes she’d leave him alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turns to look at her, eyes hard on hers. “I’m good,” he says curtly. Thoughtfully she studies him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your eyes tell a different story.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay to miss them,” she pauses, “but crying doesn’t serve any purpose. It won’t bring them back, and neither does it make you stronger.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wasn’t crying,” hisses Sasuke. He knew his eyes were red, and not Sharingan-red, but seeing the Kunoichi just smile at him all throughout made him want to strike her across the face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kurenai Yuuhi looks at him for a few, paining seconds longer and then stands up. Sasuke quickly shakes her hand from his shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, keep your head up, Uchiha. Boys don’t cry.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And with that, she leaves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stays in the same place until the sun begins to set, too exhausted to train and too depressed to go back to that big, lonely home of his.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s only when the moon comes out from behind the clouds, throwing long, rippled lines of light on the lake’s surface that he disconnects his face from his knees and cries freely. He lets his little body shake with sobs and the slime drip down from his nose over his lips as he remembers his father telling him to man up but still holding him close when he was five and crying in his arms. The time Itachi made space in his bed when one late night Sasuke came to him crying, teasing him for his tears but holding the blanket up for him all the same. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boy sits with himself and cries for a past forever out of reach now as the moon moves to hide behind clouds, handing the small body over to the night’s darkness.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Naruto! It’s Sasuke! He’s alive!” Sakura screams across the bridge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turns around wide-eyed, the weight of what felt like the world falling from his chest as he really sees him there: Sasuke, one hand weakly raised to confirm Sakura, Sasuke, looking exhausted to the bone but smiling faintly, Sasuke, alive and not well but breathing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto’s feet carry him back to him all on their own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sas-” he stops, breathless, a few feet in front of him. The strangest urge to throw his arms around him overcomes him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You… I’m so…” he laughs, as happily as weakly, without breath when Sasuke flinches, clutching at his shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hng!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sasuke-kun!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sakura is immediately by his side, helping him sit down again. Naruto barely registers himself moving to his knees as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>From up close, Naruto realizes the light flushing of Sasuke’s cheek, and inexplicably to him his heart skips a beat. He smiles, telling himself it must just be his body’s reaction to all the wounds. His heart does that weird thing again when Sasuke finds his eyes. The other boy raises a brow and gives him a half-smile, and he looks a little funny like that, but it still makes Naruto flush a little himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, what are you crying for, Usuratonkatchi?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not crying!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sakura observes them with a strange mixture of mirth and jealousy, but neither of them is really paying her any mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not crying,” Naruto repeats, and he finally gives into his urge, not caring how embarrassed he’d be about it even just an hour later, “I’m just so happy I didn’t have to kill anyone because your stupid ass decided to die!” <em>(I’m so glad you’re alive!)</em></span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke flinches a little under his touch, “Ow, Naruto, be careful…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Jinchuuriki laughs huskily, but still lets off on the pressure a little. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stupid,” begins Sasuke, awkwardly below him, but his head is resting lightly against Naruto’s. He puts one hand on his back, “don’t you know boys don’t cry.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto sniffles into his shoulder. “Already told ya I’m not crying.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He feels Sasuke holding him tighter, and not by much, but it’s enough and he thinks maybe his heart is making this skipping thing a habit now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Naruto wakes up to sterile walls and the pungent smell of sanitizer and strong cleaning supplies - and then one carried over from the other side of the room, where the window is tilted and a breeze enters the room. The familiar scent relaxes him instantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tries to sit up, groaning at the heaviness of his body and momentarily in shock when he attempts to lean on his elbows only to find one missing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Man,” he whines, scrambling to sit up without touching the wires and tubes on his body, “this is gonna take some while getting used to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The light but pulsing chakra emanating from Sasuke let’s him know the man is awake as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto leans against the wall, closing his eyes once again. The muscles in his body are sore and strained, his head is pounding, and his right arm numb. His chakra reserves were still regenerating after being used up for good, so the Kyuubi’s healing abilities must be compromised as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He opens his eyes again, tilting his head to finally look at Sasuke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto finds Sasuke’s eyes staring at him unabashedly, only blinking once when Naruto’s meet his own. There’s no hostility in those eyes anymore, no more strained apathy. No more aggression and for once, no distance. A strong, overwhelming something wells up in him at the sight of it. And for the very first time in years, he feels like a great burden inside of him is starting to come undone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mornin’,” he manages to choke up, overcome with the gravity of his relief.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Minimally, but Sasuke’s eyes widen. Then, he offers Naruto a small, lopsided smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s almost 3pm.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No way!” Naruto laughs. “Why didn’t you wake me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A mischievous grin spreads over his face. “Had too much fun staring at me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Sasuke’s brows finally twitch at that, the jaw clenching like it used to when they were kids and provoking each other. He briefly averts his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You looked troubled,” he states instead of addressing Naruto’s goading.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, like, while sleeping?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. You looked tense.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto snorts and raises his stump, half grinning. “Well duh, you did give me a lot of trouble.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke looks at him for a few quiet seconds before turning his head to the ceiling, and Naruto almost misses the glance he throws at his own stump. The lighthearted atmosphere seems to be slipping away and Naruto falters at it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t mean it,” he blurts out, earnestly. He probably would’ve looked away if Sasuke was looking at him right then. They did that a lot. And besides, he didn't want Sasuke to return back to his usual, defensive-walls-up-to-the-sky, stoic self that was so painfully hard to reach just yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re not wrong,” replies Sasuke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I don’t mean it,” he insists.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke looks at him again, Naruto’s heart remembering an old habit then. “That makes no sense.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe not to you! I always knew you weren’t the genius everyone pretended you were,” Naruto says, flippantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man in the other bed scoffs. There’s a short silence and in an attempt not to disturb it too much, Naruto keeps his voice a little quieter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I really don’t though,” he repeats, softly, “it’s worth it if it’s you. It’s not trouble to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s Sasuke’s stunned laugh then that gets to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t do this again, Naruto.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His brows knit together in confusion, “What do you mean?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please just stop,” Sasuke says. He’s not looking at Naruto yet but there’s a smile playing around his lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, he turns to him. “I understand. Just… stop talking.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The feeling from earlier makes itself known again, needling into his eyeballs now. Filling his throat, too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Saaas…” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck it. They have been through so much, what does a little more of this really matter anymore? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Boys aren’t supposed to cry,” he grins teary-eyed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke looks at him funny, his own eyes glistening. “And Shinobi aren’t supposed to show emotions.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, </span>
  <em>
    <span>fuck </span>
  </em>
  <span>all that, seriously,” Naruto laughs breathlessly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knows it’s stupid, and irresponsible, and dramatic too, but he really can’t be bothered by that right then. He grips the tubes and wires on his body with the only hand he still has and rips them off roughly, getting up when they’re all off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Naruto what the hell are you-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up,” he replies brightly, quickly crossing the distance between their beds as he does.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut up you big bastard.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knocks the air out of Sasuke a little when he throws himself against him, wrapping his left arm and what’s left of the right one tightly around Sasuke’s neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The position is by all means awkward with Naruto half sitting, half lying on Sasuke’s bed and their stumps trying to make themselves useful, but it really didn’t matter because -</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bastard, I missed you so much,” Naruto mumbles into Sasuke’s hair. That one simply clutches his friend’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I really missed you so much, ya know.” He holds him closer, as if to emphasize it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke responds intently,</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m here now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto nods into his shoulder, another dam cracking behind his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I’m not letting you leave again!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke half laughs, "You're gonna hold me captive?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... No. That wouldn’t be necessary.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How do you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto moves back briefly to look at Sasuke, their faces close, and he can’t help but notice how beautiful he still is. He shoos the thought away, wanting to focus on his words instead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You won’t leave me behind again after this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Contemplative eyes study him. “What if I decide not to stay in the village?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s a dull hit. He hates that thought. He does. But still…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It doesn’t matter.” Naruto is oddly satisfied with the hint of surprise in Sasuke’s face. He finishes quietly: “As long as you don’t shut me out again, that’s all I ask of you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke looks at him for a long time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something Naruto can’t decipher but that he’s sure is important flickers through his eyes, and Naruto waits for him, waits, and they’re so close and Sasuke isn’t responding so at one point his eyes fall lower and he gets the urge -. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He flushes, needs to look away. Flustered, he needs to break the silence: “That made you speechless or what? Say something!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke must have picked up on his unsettled nerves with how he looks at him, but to Naruto’s relief he doesn’t comment on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... You’re still crying. And your face is all puffy, it looks stupid,” he says with a smirk, snaking his arm around his shoulder to pinch his cheek. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that was really it. That was all he ever needed to dissolve the tension</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wha-! Yuh lewk jus’ as st’pid!” Naruto grabs at Sasuke’s cheek to pay him back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you’re still crying too! You’re a hypocrite, y’know that!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop grabbling at me with your dirty fucking  fingers- ew,” Sasuke complains, trying to push Naruto off, only for that one to lose balance and topple over, taking Sasuke with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Naruto…” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re awfully close with Naruto all of a sudden stretched out on top of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uhm, sorry, uh…” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If his heart would just slow down a little. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke looks at him, expression stoic but not hard. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Move.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes! Of course, uhm,” he scrambles to sit back up, the tips of his ears going red again, and Sasuke - </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>- Leans forward. Their lips brush together in a chaste kiss and Naruto’s bandaged hand comes up to tug Sasuke closer. The man smiles against his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Good evening,</span>
  <em>
    <span> Hokage-sama,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” he dramatically drags out the title.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Sasuke moves back to straighten his back, taking the hand on his face into his own. His eyes move over it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s that day again, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Naruto smiles solemnly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, today a decade ago we blew each other’s arms to dust.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke reciprocates a small smile. “Looking embarrassingly happy about that.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh that’s not what I was thinking of tho.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hn.” Sasuke’s thumb caresses the back of Naruto’s hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was thinking about the day after. In the hospital,” Naruto explains. Sasuke feels fondly about that day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smirks. “Your crybaby nature really peaked that day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Indignation flares up on the other’s face and Sasuke can’t help but chuckle a little at how funny looking he was like that while wearing the Hokage robe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were just as bad as me!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke clicks his tongue, “hardly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mhh. Maybe that once. Unlike you who’s like that every day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto looks like he still wants to say something, though seems to decide on letting it go instead then. There’s a comfortable pause as he watches Sasuke play with his fingers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you know I wanted to kiss you that day?” He asks, smiling fondly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nods. “I figured.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, really?!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Disconnecting their hands he leans over again, one brow quirked. “There’s only so many possible interpretations for someone looking at your lips, flushing, and then looking away, usuratonkatchi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He places a light kiss on the corner of Naruto’s mouth when he sees his face heat up again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why didn’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto looks at him, head inclined. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Honestly, gay panic,” he deadpans. But then more seriously, “and… I didn’t want to do anything that’d risk you running away again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s something in his smile that Sasuke can only interpret as wistful. Yearning. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d only just gotten you back,” the man admits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke places a hand under Naruto’s chin. “I would have liked it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Jinchūriki’s eyes go wide, then his cheeks go pink. “You wouldn’t have run away again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmm, probably would have.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sasuke!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His chortling rings through the room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m kidding. I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t have reacted well, but I would have liked it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That doesn’t even make sense!” Naruto exclaims, voice frustrated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It doesn’t have to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke looks at him. His eyes, big and blue and beautiful. His mouth, pouty and plump. His nose, cheeks, whiskers, his golden hair. He moves his hand up to cup his cheek.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you,” he finally adds. And he means it. He always has.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s Naruto who pulls him into the kiss. Bringing both hands around his face to drag him closer, folding his lips over Sasuke’s, and he tastes really sweet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wipes a thumb over Naruto’s cheek.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Crybaby,” he whispers softly in between kisses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Naruto pulls back slightly, just enough to look at his bandage, then at Sasuke. He laughs, easily and gently. He kisses him again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re one to talk, idiot.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! Lmk what you think, kudos &amp; comments appreciated &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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